With the development of wireless technologies, an electronic device is easy to carry and is able to freely connect to wired/wireless networks. For example, portable electronic devices such as a smartphone, a tablet personal computer (PC), and the like is able to support various functions, such as an internet connection and chatting, in addition to a call function and a message sending/receiving function.
To support the various functions, the portable electronic device is generally equipped with a touch panel on the display, thereby receiving various inputs (e.g., a touch input, an alphabet input, and the like) from a user. For example, the portable electronic device is able to display a so-called soft key in which a keyboard or call buttons are displayed on the display, and the user is able to input on the soft-key displayed on the touch panel bonded with the display.
The portable electronic device may inevitably be minimized to promote the user's convenience in carrying. For example, the size of the smartphone display is generally limited to 4 inches to 6 inches even though there is a trend to increase the size of the smartphone display as large as possible. When the user enters a user input through the soft key displayed on the 4-inch to 6-inch display, the speed and the accuracy significantly drop compared with when a general keyboard is used. Furthermore, the soft key of a smartphone is not suitable to input a large amount of data (e.g., documentation) in the smartphone.
For a tablet PC, if a soft key is displayed, the area of the screen for displaying content is reduced. In this situation, the user has to input information while watching the screen covered by the soft key, thereby significantly reducing the input efficiency. Furthermore, even though the tablet PC has a 10-inch display, a user who has a relatively large hand may easily make typing errors due to constraints of the screen size of the tablet PC.
Furthermore, in the case where the soft key is used in a smartphone or a tablet PC, the user needs to operate settings to change a key layout or a key type. The separate operation for changing the settings may be very inconvenient to the user who wants to use various input layouts. Furthermore, the separate operation for changing the settings may be very difficult to the users (e.g., the elderly people) who are unfamiliar with the use of electronic devices.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.